Top spots for ‘fancy toast’
The humble but popular avocado on toast was once the unlikely symbol of the New Zealand housing crisis. You’d own a house if only you could stop buying overpriced breakfasts, went the cry. In the background, avocado on toast’s lessermentioned but more creative cousin has been growing in popularity. Fancy toast (sans avocado) is something that should be on your brunch radar.
Fancy toast describes any sliced, toasted or grilled bread that is topped with something a little bit special.
This toast is a cut above the quick smear of brand-free jam and toast as you rush out the door to work, and less mainstream than avocado. This toast is designed to be savoured.
At Orphans Kitchen in Auckland, toast is a regular, and exciting menu choice.
Chef and co-owner Thomas Hishon says toast has a certain nostalgia about it. He remembers his Nana Tina offering him a slice of toast at her home, and the memory has stuck with him.
‘‘It’s essentially what I grew up on, and it has no real limitations so I like to champion it here at Orphans Kitchen for these reasons,’’ he says.
And champion it, he does. The kitchen serves sprouted lentil loaf from sister business, Daily Bread. Toppings are adventurous and unusual, but often echo childhood favourites – the house-made marmite and Mahoe edam cheese is the classy version of that Kiwi classic.
However, smoked kahawai with pickled egg and kiwifruit hot sauce is something of a departure from nostalgia. Other options include grapefruit marmalade and buffalo curd and smoked macadamia sour cream with wilted silverbeet and spinach. The list of crazy but delicious combinations goes on.
Hishon says the most important thing about fancy toast is the toast itself. Choose high-quality bread, ideally one with a fermentation process, like sourdough, with gluten proteins broken down into natural sugars.
When toasted, the bread undergoes a Maillard reaction, which gives toasted bread its ‘‘complexity and depth’’. It’s a process and result similar to what we find in coffee.
Orphans Kitchen isn’t the only place stepping up its toast game. At the likes of Fix and Fogg in Wellington, you’ll find peanut butter of all kinds paired with dessert-like toppings.
Kadett in Christchurch serves toppings such as smashed pea with mint and feta, or miso spread with fresh tomato and black sesame.
Orphans Kitchen, 118 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland; Kadett, 371 St Asaph St, Christchurch; Fix and Fogg window, 5 Eva St, Te Aro, Wellington.